Hyper At Hogwarts - Year 1
by SideshowJazz1
Summary: Fern Alice Jordan is a first-year at Hogwarts, and totally hyper and out of control at times. She plays by her own rules and chooses which ones to abide by. How will she fare in her first year? I NEED FEEDBACK, THIS IS MY FIRST ATTEMPT AT WRITING A HARRY POTTER FIC, REVIEW BEFORE I SCREW UP, PLEASE!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey! Well, you've just found the most cliché OC story type in this fandom: New kid at Hogwarts! I only just started re-reading the series and wanted to try my hand at one. But my character, Fern, will give her own take on some of the things that happen, too, you'll see. I should warn you, though, she's very hyperactive...**

**Enjoy, and please review!**

There were two children, neither of them older than one year old on that momentous night that the Dark Lord disappeared. They were in two different parts of Britain, but although neither of them knew of each other's existence, they would learn of it in years to come.

The first child, a baby girl, slept peacefully in her cot. She was pale, with a short fuzz of soft dark hair, although her eyebrows hinted that she'd have a hint of red in her hair. She had no clue about what had taken place that night, and would have no clue about the other child, or anyone else she would meet in those later years.

Overnight, the second child became a celebrity, but he was completely unaware of that. The only clue was a scar on his forehead, shaped like a lightning bolt, and memories that were still buried. While one child slept in her comfortable cot, he was left on the doorstep of his only living relatives – his mother's sister, along with her husband and son, all disagreeable, down-to-earth and greedy. Although his parents came from a completely different world to the girl's parents, he wouldn't know of his parents' world for another ten years.

Little did these two know that their fates were intertwined. Maybe they wouldn't fall in love, or even be close friends, maybe they would. But anyhow, at some point, they would meet. They would know each other. And through the next seven years, they would see each other often.

_Ten years later..._

Fern Alice Jordan was a now day off her eleventh birthday, so very different from the peaceful baby and little girl she had been. Once she hit school age, she slowly became more and more energetic and even hyperactive at times. At this moment, she was wearing shorts and a tight-fitting peppermint pale green T-shirt, and she was endlessly bouncing on the trampoline she had gotten for her seventh birthday as the sun set. As she jumped, her straight mid-neck length dark brown (with natural auburn streaks) hair bounced, and her brown eyes were wide with exhilaration. She was singing softly to herself as she bounced from one of her parents' CDs, the only one she really liked.

"_Su-per trou-per, lights are gonna find me,_

_Shining like the sun." _she sang.

"_Smiling, having fun, feeling like a number one..."_

"Fern!" called her mom. "It's getting dark, come back in."

For all her endless energy, Fern was a good kid. "Coming, Mom!" she called back, and went in.

The evening passed as any evening would in the Jordan house, except for Fern's growing excitement and anticipation of the next day. For once, she went to bed on time without her routine token groan of "Just one more minute?", and even then, she found it hard to sleep. Eleven was a big birthday for her, since it was late June and it meant that she'd be starting at the high school.

Eventually, Fern drifted off, but even so, she woke up early. Her birthday went exactly as she expected. She got two new CDs – Avril Lavigne's _Goodbye Lullaby _and Volume 4 of _Glee, _and the whole trilogy of Jacqueline Wilson's _Hetty Feather _series. Fern was the most thrilled to receive a pogo stick, which she began to practice jumping on straightaway, even when getting the mail, which included a lot of cards and birthday greetings for her.

Fern opened most of her cards and letters straightaway, but she also received two that stood out. One was for the high school her parents had enrolled her in, which held the handbook for the school and a map, as well as her timetable.

The second letter had a very precise address, which read:

_Ms F. Jordan_

_The Upstairs Left Bedroom_

_29 Lavender Rd_

_Northolt_

_London_

"Mom, Dad, look at the address on this one!" Fern exclaimed, passing it to her parents.

Her dad laughed. "Well, there's no doubt it's addressed to you, Fern." he chuckled. "It's probably one of your friends, making a joke."

Her mom, however, turned it over and studied it. "It looks like a letter from some kind of school, with this seal." she remarked. The seal was a coat of arms, with a honey badger, a snake, a lion and what seemed to be a phoenix in each corner, with an ornate H in the middle.

Fern frowned, taking it back. "I don't know if my friends would go this far. It does look pretty official." Impatiently, she tore the letter open, and read the contents silently. Finally, she looked up at her parents. "Maybe this is a joke." she said quietly. "But it looks legit, and I can't think of anyone who would put an equipment list in..."

"Fern, honey, what does the letter say?" her mom asked.

Fern handed it over, and her parents scanned the letter. Apart from all the names and official things, the letter read:

_Dear Ms Jordan,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment._

_Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Minerva McGonagall_

_Deputy Headmistress_

It definitely seemed like it was real. But both of Fern's parents wanted to dismiss it as crazy talk. They looked back at Fern, who was slowly beginning to smile.

"You know..." she said slowly, "This is AWESOME! So if it does turn out to be real, can I go?"

"Fern," began her father. "Think about this. We know nothing about this school, or how to get there. We don't know what the students are like. We want to make sure we choose the best school for you. Where's the equipment list?"

Fern handed it over, and scanned another piece of paper that explained how to overcome difficulties she and her family might have, not having known anything about the world where witches and wizards existed.

"There's still one thing I don't really get." she said. "If there are only some witches and wizards out there, then why are most of us, the non-magical majority, called _Muggles?"_

**Yeah, that last thing is something I have a problem with. Witches and wizards don't seem to make up the majority of the world. That point can be argued, but it feels like they're degrading non-magical people by calling them Muggles, like they're an inferior race. So are witches and wizards aliens or something, because they treat their world like a completely different planet to the one that non-magical people live in.**

**Anyway, this was just an introductory chapter. Please review, and give me your take on what you think Fern's relationships should be at Hogwarts, including her house (although Gryffindor is the most likely right now). Should she make the Trio a Quartet or be on the dark side? I really do want some advice from more hard-core and educated fans (I'm still one-third through _Goblet Of Fire _right now). So please, review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Keep in mind that I know how overdone this storyline is. Thanks for your review, kamion.**

**Also, because I forgot it before: **

**Disclaimer: All rights go to J.K Rowling, I am simply borrowing her characters and storyline, and I read in an article that she (along with Stephenie Meyer) has given fanfiction authors express permission to use her characters. I do, however own Fern, who, by the way, isn't a self-insert.**

Fern and her parents only went to get Fern's school supplies in early August, using the time to try to overcome the fact that their only daughter would be training to be a witch, and trying to learn everything they could about the world Fern would be entering.

One of the "difficulties" Fern had mentioned were how to get to Diagon Alley to buy her school supplies, including her wand. Another was getting wizard cash – gold Galleons, silver Sickles, and bronze Knuts.

"Do you want to bring a pet, Fern?" her mom asked. "The letter said you could bring an owl, a cat or a toad."

"You'd let me have one?" Fern asked incredulously. Her parents had never been into animals, and no matter how much Fern begged for a dog or cat, the best she got were a couple of frogs in a glass box, who didn't interest her and ended up going to the SPCA.

"Well, as long as you take good care of it." her mom said. "We don't want you to have a cat, though."

Fern shrugged, pretending she didn't care. "I don't really want a cat. Or a toad. But if I had an owl, it would be that much easier to send things. Besides," she said, as they got to the shop, "They have the cutest faces."

Sure enough, Fern got a black owl, whose amber eyes stood out. She decided to name the owl Daly.

"Do I need a reason?" was her only justification.

During the time she and her parents bought her school supplies, she heard whispers, and knew that she and her parents in their casual clothes stood out from the other people in their robes. Even when Fern was being fitted for her Hogwarts robes, she felt like the other people there were looking at her, knowing she was from a non-magical family, what they called 'muggleborn'. Fern wasn't usually Miss Paranoia, but being the one person wearing jeans in a streetfull of robed men and women with pointed hats made her feel a little too conspicuious.

Still, she kept an eye out for kids her age, and occassionally caught the eye of one. She was relieved to see that one of the girls she passed was dressed like her, at least. One boy whose eye she caught gave her a timid smile, which made her grin back. Another boy raised an eyebrow when he saw her, although he didn't realize she noticed. But no matter how nervous she was while in Diagon Alley, she was bubbling over with excitement at home and telling all her friends.

"I'm _so _jealous!" exclaimed her best friend Jamie. "I mean, you even get your letters sent by owl. How cool is that?"

Fern grinned. "It's going to be, like, a whole new world from me. All I've done is flicked through my books. Plus, my parents decided to get me a Modern Magic History book so I'd know what was going on, and according to it, there's this kid who's about my age who's in it. That means he might be coming to Hogwarts this year, and he'll be the big deal." She frowned. "Bet he's conceited."

"Fern, lighten up!" said Jamie. "You're always saying how much you can't wait to be there and that you're going to have so much fun. So what if there's some big shot in your year? I'm the one going to high school on my own. Send me letters, will you?"

"By owl." Fern promised. "So what did you say about lightening up?" She smirked. "Let's go do something!"  
"Like...play that barrel game on your trampoline or make up some new game?" Jamie suggested.

Fern even had a sleepover two days before she was due to leave. The five girls Fern had invited over were called Jessie, Nancy, Andrea, Rachel, and of course, Jamie. Most of them didn't really do much. Even though they had a _Simpsons _marathon with Fern's Season 6 DVDs, most of the time they just talked. There were only a few times they were silent, like during the time the Itchy and Stratchy robots advanced on the family, the courthouse scene at the end of _Sideshow Bob Roberts, _the end of the Halloween Special, and of course, when at the end of the first _Who Shot Mr Burns, _Dr Hibbert laughed and said to the camera, "Well, I couldn't possibly solve this mystery. Can you?"

All the girls did, really, was talk about about Fern's new school and what she'd be doing there.

"Well, I've had a look through my book about the history of Hogwarts." Fern explained while Bart Simpson broke his leg on the TV. "There are four houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin, and it sounds like people of each house stick together."

Andrea pretended to cough, while saying 'Exception to the rule!"

"You never stick with anyone, Fern." Nancy objected. "You flit around everywhere, talking to everyone."

"Not that I even know anyone there." Fern said. "There's one kid I've read about who might be there."

"Wait a second..." Jamie said, "What did you say he was famous for?"

"He evaded death." Fern said. "I forget the name of the wizard who tried to kill him, but people apparently think he was killed due to that. The boy escaped with a scar on his forehead. Possibly every kid who's grown up in the magic world knows of it. But," she lowevered her voice. "You know none of you can tell anyone? Non-magical people are what witches and wizards call 'muggles' and they aren't really supposed to know about us. OK? Cause if you can't keep secrets, I suggest you leave town. Plus, I won't continue."

That got her friends to swear they wouldn't tell. Fern smiled. "Knew that would get you." she said triumphantly. "The boy is called..not sure, Harry or something like that. His parents were both killed by the wizard who tried to kill him. I don't know much else, apart from the fact that he's our age, and that's why I think I might meet him.

"If you do see him, can you PLEASE get his autograph?" begged Rachel. "For me?"

"Not making any promises." Fern smirked. "He'll probably be too surrounded, Rach. But I'll try."

**Another cliché chapter, but I like the train scene. Please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**OK, here's my next (long) chapter. Thank you for reviewing, YUI.**

Fern said goodbye to her parents before she found Platform 9 and ¾ . She saw a red-haired woman with a bunch of redheaded boys disappearing and holding the hand of a younger girl explaining it to a boy who was very small and skinny for eleven, although he obviously was since he was going to her school, so after they were gone, she made her run towards the brick pillar and found her way through, getting through, mostly, by hearing what to do with her luggage and Daly from others. Eventually, though, she found herself sitting in a compartment, opposite the boy who she'd observed before. When she saw his face, she thought she vaguely recognized him.

As she thought that, one of the red-haired boys, the youngest, opened the sliding door to the compartment.

"Anyone sitting there?" he asked, pointing to the seat next to Fern.

The other boy and Fern shook their heads. "Free country." Fern smiled, trying to be friendly.

She noticed as the ginger sat down, he stole a look at the other boy and then quickly pretended to look out of the window. As he did so, two of the other gingers, a couple of older twins, opened the door to tell the youngest that they were going further down the train.

"Right." muttered the redhead, not looking interested.

The twin who hadn't spoken first looked to the other boy. "Harry, did we introduce ourselves?" he said. "Fred and George Weasley. And this is Ron, our brother. See you later, then."

"Bye." said the two boys as the twins left.

"So...am I chopped liver?" Fern asked, but Ron didn't even seem to notice her. He was staring at the other boy. Finally, he spoke. "Are you really Harry Potter?"

The boy, Harry, nodded. Fern recognized the name immediately.

"Hi." she said. "I'm Fern Jordan. So you're the famous Harry Potter I've heard about, nice to meet you." She quickly turned to Ron, realizing she'd left him out. "And you, of course."

Ron had a more starstruck attitude to Harry, but on the other hand, Fern's interjections weren't exactly helpful.

Finally, Harry asked Ron, "Are all your family wizards?"

"Yes, I think so." Ron answered. "I think Mom's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we never talk about him."

"Um..." Fern said, "Why is it so bad to not be magical? I don't understand it."

Both the boys shrugged.

"I'm muggleborn." Fern explained. "So I wouldn't get it." She sighed dramatically. "Why am I the only clueless one here?"

"I lived with Muggles for my whole life." Harry immediately said.

"What are they like?" Ron asked in interest.

"Horrible. Not all of them, but my aunt and uncle and cousin are. Wish I'd had three wizard brothers."  
"I have five." Ron corrected automatically. "I'm the sixth in my family to go to Hogwarts. You could say that I've got a lot to live up to." He explained how his two oldest brothers had left, and now the third was a prefect. He also had hand-me-downs of everything, including a sleeping rat that used to belong to Percy, the fifth-year prefect.

Fern smiled and patted Ron's shoulder mock sympathetically. "Aw, don't be so unhappy." she teased. "Poor little you having a lot to live up to versus poor little me, who knows absolutely nothing."

Ron swatted her hand away, but he smiled. Harry started talking about his own life with his aunt and uncle, which made Fern's eyes widen at the amount of child abuse he glanced over.

"I didn't know anything about being a wizard or about my parents or Voldemort-" The name made Ron gasp.

"What's the big deal?" Fern said, amused.

"He said You-Know-Who's name!" Ron exclaimed.

"I'm not trying to be brave or anything." Harry said in protest. "I just never knew you shouldn't. Fern, you're not alone, I've got loads to learn, I bet. I'll probably be the worst in the class."

"Second worst." Fern corrected.

"I bet neither of you will be." Ron said. "There's loads of people who come from Muggle families and they catch on quick enough."

This made Fern relax a bit. She liked both the boys, and hoped they'd be in the same house as her. The three of them chatted together, and when a trolley came by full of wizard-type sweets, Harry bought a whole lot of them, and Fern chipped in with some of her own money (Ron didn't have any). They all shared the food. Both Fern and Harry got a surprise when the people in the cards in their packets of Chocolate Frogs sometimes appeared and disappeared. Ron, of course, knew about it.

Ron also warned them about the Every-Flavour Beans. "They mean every flavour." The first one he tried was sprouts. Fern tried her first carefully – and got cotton. Luckily, her next one was green apple.

"This is awesome!" she remarked. "I think I'm going to like this year."

At that moment, a boy with a tear-stained face came in and asked if they'd seen a toad, which they hadn't. Exactly five minutes later, when Ron was trying to do a spell to turn his rat yellow, the boy returned with a brunette about their age in tow, who seemed very interested.

Ron's spell didn't work.

"Are you sure that's a real spell?" The girl questioned, and without waiting for an answer, she said "Well, it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and they've all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard. I've learned all my set books by half, I just hope it'll be enough. I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?" Fern noticed that she talked in a very know-it-all type tone.

"Fern Jordan." she said.

"I'm Ron Weasley."

"Harry Potter."

The last name caught Hermione's attention, and she mentioned how she'd read about him. "Do any of you know which house you'll be in?" she asked. "I've been asking around and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best..." Fern tuned out for most of it. Although Hermione was muggleborn, like her, she seemed to know everything there was to know about witchcraft. When she finally left with the boy who was looking for his toad, Fern breathed a sigh of relief. Hermione seemed nice enough, but just listening to her was hard work.

Ron started talking about Quidditch, a wizard game, which sounded very interesting. Fern was a bit annoyed when they were interrupted by three boys entering the compartment.

"Is it true?" one of the boys asked. He was smaller and less beefy than the other two, but he was still more intimidating. He had pale skin, pale hair and pale eyes. "They're saying down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So that's you, is it?"

"Yes." Harry said. Fern could see that he seemed to have met the spokesperson for the three boys before.

"This is Crabbe and this is Goyle." the boy said, indicating the beefy boys. "And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."

Ron snorted, and Fern didn't even bother hiding her laugh. Draco glared at them. "You two think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are, at least." The last comment was directed at Ron. "My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles and more children than they can afford."

Fern raised her eyebrows at his tone. She stood up. "No need to be insulting, Draco Malfoy. You do realize that your first name means dragon, don't you? We didn't mean to offend you. Go on, laugh at my name, it's Fern Jordan."

Draco raised an eyebrow, and this time, Fern remembered the boy from Diagon Alley who had done so. She wasn't sure if he was the same boy, but there was a certain resemblance. He didn't look very interested, though, and turned back to Harry.

"You'll soon find out that some wizarding families are better than others, Potter." he said. "You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there." He held out his hand.

Harry didn't consider it for a second, it seemed. "I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks." was all he said.

Fern giggled. "You just got owned!"

However, Malfoy wasn't amused. A tiny bit of colour appeared in his cheeks, which looked like they had been coloured in, not natural. "I'd be careful if I were you, Potter." he warned. "Unless you're a bit politer, you'll go the same way as your parents. They didn't know what was good for them, either. You hang around with riff-raff like the Weasleys and people from Muggle families and it'll rub off on you."

Ron had gone the same colour as his hair. Fern wasn't nearly as visually furious, but the set of her lips showed that she really wanted to tell the snob a few home truths.

"Say that again." Ron challenged.

Fern stood up with the other two. "Yeah, why don't you record it?" she added. But suddenly, her eyes lit up and her face relaxed. "I expect you think you're already 'popular' and you're offering to teach other boys to-" she broke into song, _"Be popular, they'll hang with the right cohorts,_

_And be good at sports, know the slang they've got to know_

_So let's start, cause they've got an awfully long way to go."_

Malfoy's watery blue-grey eyes narrowed, although Fern thought she caught a flash of amusement on his face for one millisecond. "I wouldn't expect you to know anything about social skills in this world." he scowled at Fern. Then he turned to Ron. "And you – you're going to fight us?"

"Unless you get lost now." Harry told him.

"But we don't feel like it, do we, guys?" Malfoy said smoothly to his two friends. "We finished all our food and it looks like you still have some."

The boy called Goyle reached for the food, but Ron's rat had bitten him in seconds, and by the time the boys were gone, he'd fallen asleep again.

At that moment, Hermione appeared at the door again to tell them that they had to change into their robes, since they were five minutes away from Hogwarts. She also wanted to know what had happened, since she'd appeared only seconds after the other boys had left (and Harry had explained that he and Malfoy had briefly met).

"You haven't been fighting, have you?" Hermione said. "You'll be in trouble before we even get there!"

Fern laughed. "What are you, a teacher? Loosen up! Besides, one, we didn't start it, and two, it wasn't us anyway."

Fern left the boys while she changed into her robes in one of the bathrooms, and got back to the compartment just as Hogwarts came into view.

**Long chapter for me, but I adore the train scene, and I wanted Fern to get a first impression of each member of the trio. Please, review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Next up..well, you all know what's coming.**

The school wasn't like a school at all, in Fern's eyes. "It's, like...the ultimate medieval castle!" she whispered. "I can't wait to be in there."

It was all a blur to her, getting off the train and before she knew it, she was standing in a crowd of first-year-students in the Entrance Hall They had been led up to the door by Hagrid, the gamekeeper (who Fern noticed seemed to know Harry already), and had then been led in by Professor McGonagall, whose name Fern remembered from her letter. She told them about the houses and how they functioned, before going into the Great Hall. The first year students had to wait outside.

"How exactly do they sort us into our houses?" Harry whispered to Ron.

"Some kind of test, I think. Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking."

"I sure hope so." Fern whispered to the boys.

At that moment, a bunch of ghosts floated through the wall, talking. Most of them noticed the first years, and a few of them talked.

"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" said one of the ghosts. "My old house, you know."

That's when Professor McGonagall returned to bring the first years in. It turned out that what the students had to do was have a very battered hat placed on their heads, which would decide which house they belonged in, according to the hat itself. Fern jumped when the hat first began singing, but she then grinned and seemed used to it. She surveyed the hall, which had four long tables, one per house. The staff, including the headmaster Professor Dumbledore, were also there.

"I'll kill Fred," Ron muttered, "He was going on about wrestling a troll."

Professor McGonagall called out their names one by one. Fern didn't really take notice until she called "Granger, Hermione!"

Hermione immediately ran and got the hat on her head quickly. The hat didn't take long to decide.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Ron groaned. Fern nudged him and whispered "Where does it say in the school rules that you have to talk to her? I know it's a given that you'll be in Gryffindor since, like, all your family was or is there, but it doesn't mean you have to be besties with her." Ron gave her a quizzical look at the word. "Girly phrase – it means best friends. It's mainly a word girls use. I don't know if it's just a Muggle thing. Girls here probably use it, too."

"Oh."

Harry seemed to be frozen in anxiety. Fern had to wait until her name was called, and she started feeling a bit nervous, too, as she put the hat on her head. She was the only one to hear the hat say anything before it decided on her house.

"Hmmm...a lot of loyalty there. Brave, too. Standing up for anyone you care about, and no doubts about fighting to the end. It seems like you have two houses that you could be in."

Fern, remembering that Ron was bound to be in Gryffindor, immediately thought "_Please let me be in Gryffindor."_

"Gryffindor, hmm?" the hat said. "Are you sure you have that preference? You could do well in Hufflepuff, too. No? Well then...GRYFFINDOR!"

The house table cheered, and Fern pulled the hat off and went to the table, where she ended up sitting next to Hermione, who she smiled at in a friendly way.

Neville, the boy who lost his toad, was eventually put in Gryffindor, but he was halfway there before he realized that he hadn't taken the hat off and had to bring it back.

Fern was also interested when Draco Malfoy took his turn, seeming completely calm about it. The hat had barely touched his head when it said "SLYTHERIN!"

"Go figure." Fern whispered to Hermione, since she was the closest. "He was the one that antagonized us on the train." However, she let her eyes watch him as he walked to the Slytherin table. "_If he wasn't such a snob, he'd be cute. I might actually like him, as in like like him." _she thought.

Harry was the next one she paid attention to, and everyone else was staring at him. It was clear that every kid at every table knew his name. Fern had to admit, she was thrilled when the hat at last yelled "GRYFFINDOR!" and the house burst into cheers. Harry joined the rest of them, flopping into a chair opposite Fern and Hermione.

One of the Prefects, who Fern could tell was in Ron's family, shook Harry's hand, and the twins chanted "We got Potter! We got Potter!"

There weren't that many people left, and Fern was only interested in Ron, who was the most scared of all of them, even though he ended up in Gryffindor, as she knew he would.

The feast was what Fern called "brilliant". Just about everything anyone could ask for was on the table, although the plates had been empty when everyone first sat down. The first-years also got to meet the Gryffindor ghost, Sir Nicholas, although Ron first addressed him as Nearly Headless Nick, obviously having heard of him before.

After the feast, there were some start of term notices, and then everyone sang the school song to a different tune. Fern's tune was alternative, a soft gentle tune (very like "Fantasies Come True" from the musical "Avenue Q"). She wasn't the first to finish, but the last to be done were the Weasley twins.

After that, the students were sent up to bed. The Prefect, who apparently was Ron's brother, Percy, led the Gryffindors up to their common room, (and on the way, after running into him, had to warn the first years about Peeves, the troublemaking poltergeist) said the password, and directed the students into their rooms. Fern found that she was sharing her room with Hermione and three other girls. Their luggage was already up there, along with their pets, and Fern was very glad to find Daly in her part of the room, resolving to write to her parents and friends (Jamie, at least) the next day.

Everyone was pretty tired, so they didn't talk much, but as they got ready, Fern said to Hermione, "Isn't this school awesome? I had no idea that it was going to be this cool – I thought the magic would be a lot more downplayed."

Hermione shrugged. "I kind of knew what to expect, since I'd been reading up on it. I think I'll save judgement until classes have started. But," she smiled kindly, "So far, it has been a pretty good school, and the house group seems nice enough."

Fern nodded and smiled as she slipped under the sheets of her bed. Within the next five minutes, all the girls were out like a light.

**I know, I know, no originality. And yes, I think Tom Felton was a total cutie in the first movie. Well, granted, I thought they were all cute in the first one, but Felton became totally hot by the end of the movie series, and still is, blonde or not. So maybe that's why Fern thought that if Malfoy wasn't such a jerk, he'd be cute. Please review, I'll try to get it to work.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Continuing...let's take a look! Thank you for reviewing, InterestedLurker and Lauren Kassidy!  
**Fern introduced herself to the rest of her dorm mates the next day, (among them Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil, twin to Padma from Ravenclaw) and they all seemed nice enough. However, within the next few days, Fern decided that she definitely fit in with Ron and Harry better than with any of the girls, although she liked most of her year group and got on well with her dorm mates. The three of them made each other laugh and it was nice to find that Fern's pre-meditated thoughts on Harry were completely wrong, as he wasn't conceited in the least, and actually the quietest person in the group. Although, it was no wonder, since everywhere the group went, whispers and stares followed.

Classes were usually fine, and Fern caught on quickly enough, although not as quickly as Hermione. It was hard to believe that she was muggleborn, as she seemed to know all there was to know about the wizarding world. But there was one class Fern and her friends hated, and that was Potions, a class they shared with the Slytherins. On the first day, the teacher, Professor Snape had singled out Harry for no reason and asked him three questions that he didn't know the answer to. Nor did Fern, but Hermione seemed desperate to answer. So desperate she was, that after Harry had to admit not knowing the answer for the third time, he added "I think Hermione does, though, why don't you try her?" making a few people laugh. Snape simply told him the answers, ordered him to copy it down, and took a point off Gryffindor.

In that particular class, Harry got blamed for Neville making a mistake in his and Seamus' potion, and only Ron telling him not to argue prevented him from doing so. Fern would have argued, but she caught the pairs' eye and decided not to.

However, the minute they were outside the room, she exclaimed "I've heard of unfair teachers, but that was ridiculous! Apart from those snobs who think purebloods are better than everyone else-" she raised her voice as Draco walked by, "This is the only thing that I am going to hate here."

Harry was just as unhappy, but Ron told them that the twins had said that Snape took points off them all the time.

And speaking of Draco Malfoy, he caused problems too. After that day on the train, the whole trio hated him, but Fern couldn't help staring at him at times. She knew he was a jerk, she knew all about him, but she still thought that he was cute. However, she never talked to him if she had the chance to, and when he wasn't around and he was brought up, she'd either not say anything, or vent on what a snob he was. So it wasn't exactly a joy when the group found out that Slytherin and Gryffindor were having flying lessons together.

"Just what I wanted." Harry muttered darkly. "To make a fool of myself on a broomstick in front of Malfoy."

"What would you have to worry about?" Fern asked. "I'm the only one here who doesn't have heritage from someone who's used a broomstick before."

Ron reassured them that they didn't know if they'd be good or not. "I know Malfoy's always going on about how good he is at Quidditch, but I bet that's all talk."

Everyone from wizarding families talked about flying and Quidditch constantly. Ron had argued with another boy about soccer, and Fern, bored one night, had initiated another sports argument about volleyball, of all things.

The day flying lessons were due to start began with Neville being sent a Rememberall, which glowed crimson, showing he'd forgotten something, but just as Draco passed by, he picked it up. Luckily Professor McGonagall was just passing, and he had to give it back. Fern sent him a venomous glare, since Neville was the clear class loser and frankly, she thought he was too nice not to defend.

However, if the Rememberall hadn't arrived that day, maybe flying lessons wouldn't have gone the way they did. The first thing Madame Hooch, the teacher, told them to do, was stick their right hand over the broom, and say "up", which everyone did. Malfoy's broom shot into his hand at once (although he was later told that he was holding it wrongly), and so did Harry's. Fern had to order the broom about ten times before it slowly reached her hand. Hermione didn't do any better, and Neville did worse. Ron's broom was more capable of giving him a head injury than anything else.

But the big shock everyone got was after that bit. The class was meant to kick off from the ground after mounting their broom, hover, and then come back down when Madam Hooch blew her whistle. But Neville ended up above ground too soon, fell off his broom, and ended up with a broken wrist. Madam Hooch had to take him to the infirmary. The rest of the class was left outside, with a warning to stay on the ground while she was gone.

Malfoy was the first to start laughing. "Did you see his face, the great lump?"

Parvati spoke next. "Shut up, Malfoy." Pansy Parkinson from Slytherin immediately accused her of being into "fat little crybabies."

Fern turned on Pansy in Neville's defense. "I bet you'd cry if you broke something, Parkinson, and in case you didn't notice, he had dry eyes, so check your descriptions are correct next time."

But things really came to a head when Malfoy picked up Neville's forgotten Rememberall and flew off to put it wherever. Harry, in spite of Hermione telling him not to, followed, yelling "Give it here, or I'll knock you off your broom!"

Fern started cheering. "Go Harry! You rule!" She stopped when Malfoy's pale eyes, even from that height, seemed to be looking straight into her brown orbs. Immediately, her mind snapped into "staring-at-Draco-Malfoy-cause-he's-a-hottie" mode, and for the first time, he actually saw it, and only broke the gaze when Harry called out "No Crabbe and Goyle up here to save you!"

Things went perfectly well. Harry got the Rememberall back, and although he was caught on his broom, he wasn't punished. Parvati and Ron both tried to speak up for him when he was being told off, but the result was actually that Harry became the youngest house player for Quidditch in a century, although it was made a secret to most of the school.

"Wow!" Fern said when he told her and Ron. "That is total star quality. But then, you were pretty awesome up there."

The Weasley twins, who were on the team, also congratulated Harry. But when Malfoy decided to question him, the rivals ended up arranging a wizards' duel at night, with Ron acting as Harry's back up, and Crabbe as Malfoy's.

Hermione decided to tell them that they shouldn't go around at night because they'd lose Gryffindor points, but none of them really wanted to listen to her.

"Loosen the hell up!" Fern told her. "Sweet Lurline, you'll be telling the teachers how to do their jobs by next month if you're like this now."

The boys were even more blunt, but maybe that was because Fern's mind was really on Malfoy again. She still thought he was a jerk, but that didn't stop her from wondering why he'd glanced at her during the most recent confrontation, smirked – and then _winked._

**OK, so maybe it's Draco/OC. I don't want to give anything away, so all I'll say is that my plan is not the traditional Draco/OC plan, simply because I'd hate to get any more cliché. So why do you think he's paying any attention to a muggleborn Gryffindor girl? Please review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey...what do you think of computers at Hogwarts? What, they shouldn't be there? Well tough, the wizarding world is getting technology in this chapter. Thanks for reviewing, Lauren Kassidy.**

"We should so go on Facebook during class one day." Fern said later that day while Ron was giving Harry advice by the bucketful for the duel. Neither of them heard her, but Hermione glanced up from her book and gave Fern a disapproving look. Fern stuck out her tongue.

That night, the boys crept out, and Fern set her alarm to do the same. The second they met up, the light flickered on and a familiar voice said "I can't believe you're going to do this."

Hermione glared at the three.

"You!" cried Ron. "Go back to bed!"

"When did you get here?" Fern exclaimed.

"I crept down here just after lights out." Hermione answered, scowling. "I could tell you were awake, but you didn't seem to notice. I almost told someone."

She followed them, scolding every second. Then it turned out they'd come for nothing, and Malfoy had been trying to get them into trouble. They ended up being cornered on the third floor, the place they had been warned on the first day not to go to. All they had been trying to do was avoid the caretaker, and they found themselves facing a bloodthirsty three-headed dog, that, according to Hermione, was guarding something underneath a trapdoor. She told them when they finally got back to Gryffindor territory. "I hope you're pleased with yourselves." she snapped. "We could've been killed, or worse, expelled. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed." She swept off with Fern following her. The boys could hear Fern whisper to Hermione "No one asked you to come, so stop being all snotty about it."

Fern only brought up the Facebook-in-class idea again a few days before Halloween. The group made a pact to do it, just for some fun and to shut her up, and on October 30th, a post appeared on Facebook with an icon showing a photo of a girl with dark hair that had traces of auburn, wide brown eyes and a bright smile.

_**Fern Jordan**: On Facebook in class!_

_**Harry Potter** and **Ron Weasley** like this._

_**Fern Jordan:** Guys, are you going to say something?_

_**Ron Weasley**: This was YOUR idea. You say something!_

_**Fern Jordan**: Harry, I just looked at your page. You've listed your COUSIN as a Facebook friend? That IS Dudley Dursley, right? I thought you said you hated him!_

_**Harry Potter**: *shrugs* Ask him why he sent me a friend request in the first place._

_**Fern Jordan**: You know, I wonder what Hermione would say if she knew we were on here._

_**Hermione Granger:** I'd tell you to get off the website! Don't think I can't see what website you're on, Fern, I'm sitting right behind you! And I also don't appreciate being the subject._

_**Fern Jordan:** Chill out! Seriously, what do I need to do?_

_**Ron Weasley**: Butt out, Hermione! If you're so disapproving, you get off Facebook!_

_**Hermione Granger**: I'll get off when you do._

_**Fern Jordan**: Fine! But don't be surprised if we're hacked off with you._

_**Anna Demi: **Hey, Ravenclaw on the web! Look on the right of the classroom._

_**Fern Jordan: **W.T.F?_

Fern logged off, only to turn around and glare at Hermione. She was returned with a scowl. The Anna girl from Ravenclaw glanced over, but as Fern showed no interest, she turned her attention back to the class. After all, she refused to fail her first year over a Facebook message.

In the common room, that evening, Hermione told them off about it. "How do you expect to pass if you're on the Internet?"

"Whatever, you were on the Internet too." Fern said.

"Because you were." Hermione replied severely. "I should have reported you three. Don't let me catch you on Facebook in class again. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to do my homework."

The boys weren't exactly thrilled about Hermione's telling-off either. It didn't help that the next day, in Charms, Hermione and Ron were paired off to practise making a feather fly. Fern, who was paired with Lavender, could hear Hermione telling Ron "You're saying it wrong."

However, she tried to ignore it, and took turns with Lavender to try and levitate their feather. "_Wingardium Leviosa!" _Fern tried.

"You know that the movement of the wand is smoother than that?" Lavender said in the critical Hermione style.

"Thanks, Lav," Fern said, as she felt she should be grateful for Lavender trying to be helpful, "but if you don't watch out, you'll start sounding like Hermione."

"Oh, no, she's such a perfectionist!" Lavender said, sounding like she really wanted to carry on the mundane conversation. Fern didn't like her much, less than Hermione and Parvati, plus most of the other Gryffindor girls and at least half the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, so she quickly said "Anyway, your turn."

But she didn't have time. One call of "_Wingardium Leviosa" _from Hermione sent her and Ron's feather flying before Lavender had lifted her wand.

"Oh, well done!" exclaimed Professor Flitwick. "Everyone see here, Miss Granger's done it!"

Fern turned to Ron and gave him a sympathetic expression, but it didn't stop him venting about Hermione to Fern and Harry after class. "It's no wonder no one can stand her. She's a nightmare, honestly."

At that moment, Hermione walked past, bumping into Harry, who said "I think she heard you."

"So?" Ron said, although the two could tell he regretted what he said. "She must've noticed she's got no friends."

Fern sighed as the reason why Hermione talked to just them struck her. "I don't really like her much, either, but only a blind person couldn't tell that the only reason she's being so bossy with us in particular is because she wants to be our friend, and that's why she's taking trouble to tell us off about things like that midnight duel. In fact, I'm going after her. Hermione, wait!" shet called, running after her.

Fern and Hermione were both absent for the whole afternoon and at the Halloween feast. The boys overheard Parvati telling Lavender that Hermione was crying in the girls' bathrooms and refused to leave, and that Fern had been insisting through the locked door that she come out and they talk.

It wasn't the best time for Professor Quirrell, the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, to run in screaming that a troll was in the dungeons and then faint.

Fern and Hermione didn't know about the troll, and were terrified when it found its way into the girls' bathroom.

They backed up against the wall, and Fern held up her wand, glancing at Hermione, hoping she'd be able to tell her what spell to cast. Sadly, the girl was way past giving advice.

But Fern wasn't a Gryffindor for nothing. She had no defenses, but she stayed in front of Hermione, acting as a guard. Still, she was relieved when Harry and Ron appeared on the scene and managed to knock the troll out.

Seconds later, some of the staff arrived, and Professor McGonagall demanded an explanation.

Hermione was the first to speak. "They were looking for me."

"Miss Granger?"

"I went looking for the troll becase I – I thought I could deal with it on my own – you know, because I've read all about them."

The other three stared at Hermione. Fern wondered whether it was the apocalypse. Hermione Granger, top student, was lying to a teacher.

Hermione continued and said that the other three had come to find her and rescued her (not mentioning that Fern was with her the whole time), adding how the boys had fought the troll and Fern had protected her.

"Five points will be taken from Gryffindor for this." Professor McGonagall told Hermione. "I'm very disappointed in you." Hermione was sent off, but the teacher wasn't finished with Harry, Ron and Fern. She told them how lucky they were, but gave each of them five points.

"We should've gotten more than fifteen points." complained Ron.

"Ten, you mean, once she's taken off Hermione's." Harry reminded him.

"Good of her to get us out of trouble like that. Mind you, we did save her."

"She might not have needed saving if we hadn't locked the thing in."

Fern stopped. "Wait a second..." she stared at the boys. "You locked the troll in with us?"

"We didn't know you were in there!" Ron explained.

Fern immediately smiled again, and added, "Well, it doesn't matter. You guys were awesome in there."

When they got back to the common room, they all thanked Hermione, and although nothing more was said, the trio became a quartet.

Days later, Fern joked to Hermione, giggling, "It's good that you're hanging out with us. We needed someone like you to complement crazy me, as the only girl." She really meant it. Plus, it was good to have a friend to talk girl talk with, especially one who came from her world and understood her like that.

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Next up is the Quidditch game. Please, review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**OK...so...well, you know what happens next, right? And why didn't anyone review last chapter? *Sob***

It was November, and the first Quidditch game – Gryffindor vs Slytherin – was coming, which also meant that Harry would have his first chance to play the game. He was pretty nervous. The secret had come out, and people kept saying to Harry either that he'd be brilliant, or that they'd make sure he'd have a mattress to fall on.

In the end, Fern declared herself Harry's manager with sports, and took great joy in saying to one insulting Slytherin after another "My client has nothing to say to you". The more complimentary people were about the same, however, Fern enjoyed formally telling them to "Give my client some space, please, but thank you for your support. We hope to see you at the first game."  
Hermione was a lot more helpful. Although Harry had a bunch of last-minute Quidditch practices, she helped him get through homework and lent him a book about the history of the game.

"Mione, can you help me with my homework too?" Fern begged. "I have just as little spare time."

Hermione, who had been doing her own work, said, "Fern, you're just trying to cheat your way through class. You have as much time as me."

Fern laughed – after all, that was exactly what she'd been doing. "I should've known you wouldn't fall for that. So that means I can't copy off you ever?"

This got a half-smile out of Hermione. "Of course not." But she let all three of them borrow her notes.

Hermione was nowhere near as uptight as she'd been before. She was still the top student in the year group, but she broke some rules, such as using magic outside of classes (conjuring a fire so that the quartet could get warmer while they were outside). They were nearly caught by Snape, who they all noticed was limping. Luckily, he didn't spot the fire, but since Harry was holding the library book _Quidditch Through The Ages, _Snape insisted that library books weren't allowed outside the school, and confiscated it once he'd also taken five points away from Gryffindor, making the Quartet vent.

"He just made that rule up." Harry muttered.

"Seriously, the only reason I'm trying in Potions is so he won't talk to me, won't take points away from me, won't even look at me." Fern added.

Harry did try to get his book back, but when he came back, he was buzzing with the news that Snape's limp was due to him trying to get past the three-headed dog, and he was sure that Snape let the troll in on Halloween to create a diversion.

Ron easily believed it, and accused Hermione of thinking "all teachers are saints" when she didn't.

Fern glanced between them and then said "Hermione, I'm with the guys on this one. I don't know if I'd believe it without that, but it all adds up, doesn't it?"

But the next day was the day of the Quidditch match, and Harry was freaking out so much that he couldn't eat, although his friends all tried to persuade him. In between encouragement and persuasion, Fern was reading the letters she'd gotten since her last corresspondent with her parents and friends. She had two letters that Daly brought: One from her parents, and one from Jamie.

The first one read:

_Dear Fern_

_It's great to hear you're settling in. We miss you too. This'll just be a short letter, since we're going out soon and Daly's waiting to take your letter back._

_You still haven't told us much about your friends, but after all you've said about Hermione, it sounds like she needed a friend like you._

_How's class? Are you doing well?_

_Write back!_

_Love, Mom and Dad._

Jamie's letter read (obviously, Fern had written a different letter to her):

_Hey Fern_

_Tell me more about everyone! What's it like, seeing magic every day? BTW, did you remember that Rachel wants HP's autograph? It's so lucky that he's not how you thought, huh?_

_Have you had any more encounters with "mystery jerk cute boy"? Why won't you tell me his name? What does he look like? Details, girl, details!_

_And Hermione's your friend now? Last time you wrote you said that she was acting like a teacher. I mean, yeah, you guys saved her, but that was kind of quick. Oh, wait, don't tell me, Ron's been acting so annoyed with her because he secretly has a crush on her. If they ended up together than you could have Harry. Unless, that is, if you're stuck on that mystery boy. Is he in the same year as you? The same house?_

_I'm still trying to come up with an answer to that challenge: Why S hates Harry so much. Does he do that to anyone else?_

_Whatever! Write back soon!_

_Jamie xoxo_

But, while Fern realized that her letter to Jamie would need a lot of detail, she kept her mind on the match.

"I can't wait to see this! My first eyewitness of a Quidditch match ever!" squealed Fern when the non-playing Gryffindors were in the stalls, ready to watch.

Lee Jordan from third year was the commentator on the match, and Fern immediately noticed that he was so pro-Gryffindor that he was too anti-Slytherin, not that she complained. The Slytherins were using cunning methods to knock out a bunch of Chaser Gryffindors.

There was one problem for the team – and unfortunately, the person causing it only targeted Harry. The minute the Snitch appeared, his broom started trying to throw him off. It was Hermione who noticed that Snape's eyes were fixed on Harry, and was sure that he was jinxing the broom. But once she'd rectified the problem and broken eye contact, Gryffindor was a sure winner, and the house cheered.

"Yeah! We rule! In your face, Slytherin!" Fern screamed, grinning.

Afterwards, Fern declined going with the rest of the Quartet to Hagrid's hut (they'd all become friends with him, Harry especially), to work out her response to Jamie.

Finally, she wrote:

_Jamie,_

_Please don't ask me about "mystery jerk cute boy". If this letter was intercepted and he found out, I'd die. I'll just say that he has pale hair, pale eyes, pale skin, pointed features, and I'm pretty sure he's been flirting with me. Oh, and yes, he's my age, but he's in Slytherin._

_We had the first match of Quidditch today (us vs Slytherin – we won), and we all think S jinxed Harry's broom. Hermione had to counter it. Speaking of her, she's a lot more relaxed now – she breaks rules now and then, even though she could still win prizes for Attempted Teacher's Pet Of The Year. I can't work out why S hates Harry either. He's not particularly poor at Potions or any other class, so there isn't really any reason._

_The others aren't here right now. And I'm just glad they didn't see your letter, cause I'm sure Ron's reaction to what you said about him and Hermione would be VERY awkward. Actually, I'm not glad, I'm kind of disappointed, but they should be. No, wait, I am glad, cause of what you said about me and Harry. Plus, I would die if they worked out who "mystery jerk cute boy" was. Did I write about the time he was going to duel with Harry at midnight, and then never showed up? He was just trying to get us into trouble! No wonder the others hate him._

_Write back! Tell me all about what's going on in your world._

_Love,_

_Fern_

**What do you think of the letters? Should I quit with them or continue? Review! Please?**


	8. Chapter 8

**Well, I'm continuing. Thank you for reviewing, dream lighting, and Lauren Kassidy!**

The other three members of the Quartet told Fern that they'd mentioned the three-headed dog to Hagrid (the dog's name turned out to be Fluffy), and they'd learned that whatever it was guarding was top secret, but he'd let slip the name "Nicholas Flamel".

Fern's eyes lit up when she got the information. "Well, before we take action, we need to find out exactly what it is. I think we have the crucial piece of info."

But Christmas was approaching, and Fern and Hermione were going home for the holidays, as were most people. Harry was one of the first who wanted to stay at school, and Ron's family would be visiting one of his older brothers in Romania. Hermione told them to continue scouring the library (even the Restricted section) for a mention of Flamel.

Fern laughed. "Hermione, can't you give them a break for once? It's Christmas!" But the boys didn't seem to mind.

She, for one, was quite looking forward to spending Christmas at home, and seeing her friends. Once she'd wrapped up her presents for her friends (wizard sweets for Harry and Hermione, and a Crunchie Bar for Ron, since she really wanted his take on a Muggle chocolate bar), she was ready to leave. She also asked Harry for the autograph her friend Rachel had asked for, blushing the whole time, planning to give it to her for Christmas. She gave Hermione the present on the platform, they exchanged phone numbers, and then took off with her parents, talking nonstop about what had happened since the start of term.

"The teachers are really tough, and I wouldn't mind that, except Professor Snape is really soft on the Slytherins and he's always finding an excuse to take points away from Gryffindor, especially if it means getting Harry in trouble, and it's SO not fair. Most of the other kids in Gryffindor are nice, too, and I don't really know the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students. But the Slytherins are so mean. This one kid, he was saying something last week about Ron's family's wealth, and they nearly had a fight, but Snape stepped in and he only took away points from Gryffindor, so unfair..."

"Fern, please speak a bit slower." said her father. "I can't understand a word you're saying."

Fern was also thrilled to see her friends. Jamie wanted to hear more about "that mystery boy you'd been talking about".

"Has he really been flirting with you? Seriously?" she asked at their one sleepover party (held at Jessie's).

Fern nodded, and proceeded to launch into a rant about Draco, adding in the encounter she'd recently had with him, when he'd made a quip about the wealth of Ron's family (not to mention, it was made worse by the fact that the Malfoys were not only pureblooded, but rich as hell). "I don't get it, though, he's a total snob. He was trying to get people to laugh at Harry after the first game of Quidditch when he nearly swallowed the Snitch, then he is always being really cruel about Ron's family. Last time I saw him, when Snape took points off Gryffindor – anyway, after the boys left, he said 'hey, Jordan', and I said 'what' and he said 'you ever want to hang with a real guy, you know where to find me', and then he smirked at me, and gave me this kind of...stare. His eyes are grey, but they are actually piercing. But I scowled and said 'I wouldn't want you as a friend if you were the last guy left in Hogwarts'. Then he smirked again and said 'oh I didn't mean as a friend', and then he walked off. I don't know why he's bothering. He doesn't like people like me – and Hermione, for that matter. You know, being the only witches in the family? That Pansy Parkinson from his house is the only girl he's perfectly matched with, but still..." Fern trailed off.

"You really do like him, don't you?" giggled Rachel.

"He's cute, that's all!" Fern said defensively. "I don't really like him."

"Enough about him." Nancy said. "Jamie's been telling us about your letters, and all we've heard about is this boy. What I really want to know is what the others are like."

"They're cool." Fern said, knowing Nancy meant her friends. "Harry's really nice, not conceited about his fame at all. He's been living with his aunt and uncle his whole life, and apparently they weren't that nice to him. Ron's the second youngest in his family – he's got five older brothers and a younger sister – so he gets a little bit overshadowed by them, since the third is a Prefect and then there are also the twins in third year. And Hermione is really smart, top in everything. We exchanged phone numbers, and we planned to meet up at the platform to go back to school together. We'll probably hang out in the summer too."

"You have phone numbers?" Jessie exclaimed suddenly. "Can you call her and let us talk to her?"

Fern shrugged. It wasn't too late, so it would be OK. "Sure, OK, Jess."

Hermione answered the phone formally. "Granger residence."

"Hermione, drop the formalities, it's me." Fern giggled.

"Oh, hi, Fern! How are you?"

"Great! Listen, my friends are here, and they all wanted to introduce themselves. Is that OK?"

"That's fine." Hermione sounded a bit shy and uncertain, but that was understandable.

Jamie took the phone first and immediately said "Hi, Hermione, I'm Jamie. Fern's best friend at home."

Every girl took their turn, and although most of them thought Hermione wasn't that interesting, they all decided that she seemed nice.

"I don't really understand how you got to be friends with her, though, Fern." Andrea admitted. "You two have nothing in common."

Fern pretended to think. "Hmmmm...we're both girls, we're both muggleborn, we both go to Hogwarts, we're both Gryffindors, we have the same friends, and we both have brown hair. But Andi, you're right that she's Teacher's Pet smart girl, and I'm most definitely not."

"Hey, let's play Truth or Dare!" Jessie suggested out of the blue. The other girls agreed, but pushed Fern into being first.

"Truth or Dare?" Nancy asked.

"Truth." Fern decided.

"Do you like this boy you were telling us about?" Rachel asked, barely even thinking about it.

Fern groaned inwardly, and at last said, "I shouldn't, but I do. But you guys can't tell anyone. If one of my friends at school knew, they'd tell the others, probably, and they'd all know who it was by the description. I'd be slowly murdered three times over."

A few more questions and dares later, the girls fell to simply talking about guys.

"I think your friends sound cute, Fern." remarked Jamie. "I _love _redheads."

Fern giggled. "I have _got _to tell Ron that. He'll probably go the same colour as his hair."

But while Fern enjoyed the holidays and hanging out with her home friends, she anticipated going back to Hogwarts. Yes, the school worked her much harder than primary school ever had, but she still wanted to see what was happening at school.

**Sorry about all the filler, but I thought that a bit of originality would be OK. Please review, no matter how much you hated this chapter.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Back to Hogwarts, yay! Thanks for reviewing, Lauren Kassidy! I don't know if this chapter is actually going to be on here. This is my third attempt at publishing it.**

Fern and Hermione met on the regular platform, and even got to introduce their parents before going through the pillar to the train. Hermione's parents were both dentists as Fern discovered, and they seemed as serious about education as Hermione was.

On the way back, the girls found a compartment with just each other, swapped holiday stories, and wondered how the boys had gotten on.

"It's weird to think of home as home really." Hermione remarked. "I've gotten used to living at Hogwarts."

"Me too." Fern said. "It'll feel weird going back in the summer, too."

As it turned out, Harry in particular had had an interesting break. He'd gotten an Invisibility Cloak for Christmas from someone anonymous, which had originally belonged to his father, according to the note (his least interesting Christmas present had been fifty pence from his aunt and uncle). He'd also looked in the Restricted section for a mention of Flamel fruitlessly. He also told them about how, after searching the library at night, he'd come across a mirror that showed him his greatest desires – in this case, his parents alive.

Hermione disapproved of his being out at night, especially after she heard about the dangers of becoming addicted to the images in the reflection, but Fern listened to the story, enthralled. "That mirror sounds SO amazing!" she exclaimed. "Wish I could've seen me in it, just once."

Fern also wanted to know what Ron had thought of the Crunchie bar she'd given him for Christmas. "I just wanted to see what you'd think of my favourite chocolate bar."

"Not bad." was Ron's answer, which made Fern smile. She knew that was pretty high praise, coming from him.

"Oh, by the way, Ron," she added, giggling, "I was talking about you guys to my friends at home. My friend Jamie thinks you're cute."

Ron's freckles disappeared for a moment as he blushed, making Fern burst out laughing for the millionth time since the day she got the letter.

Quidditch practice began, as there was another match coming up for Gryffindor – playing Hufflepuff – and the captain told the team that Snape was refereeing, something the Quartet agreed was unfair.

Harry first told the other three when Ron had been playing chess against Fern and Hermione teamed up (they would always lose on their own, and even together, they were still losing), and all three of them started suggesting ways to get their friend out of playing in the match. But there were no reserves, so Harry had to play. No Seeker, no match.

Just after the Quartet gloomily accepted that, Neville half-climbed, half fell into the common room, apparently having had someone use the Leg-Locker curse on him. Most of the common room laughed at him, but Hermione performed the counter-curse. Neville explained about Draco Malfoy's interference. "He said he'd been looking for someone to practise it on."

Fern had had the boy on her mind all of the holidays, but now she felt true white-hot anger, which she hadn't been able to feel when the blonde was looking at her like he was interested in her. But if there was one thing Fern Alice Jordan couldn't stand, it was kids who picked on her friends or loser kids like Neville.

"What a jerk!" she raged. "He thinks he's so cool, just because he's a Slytherin. He must pay!"

Hermione suggested reporting him, but Neville said he didn't want any more trouble. The boys advised him to just stand up for himself.

Fern glanced at the boys and whispered "I'm not sure that's as easy as you make it seem."

"There's no need to tell me I'm not brave enough to be in Gryffindor, Malfoy's already done that." Neville said, voice choked.

Fern put an arm around his shoulders as a friendly gesture. "That's not true." she said kindly. "Maybe you don't seem like one, but think about it. The Sorting Hat knows you've got bravery, right? Otherwise you wouldn't be here."

"Yeah, and you're worth twelve of Malfoy." Harry added. He found a Chocolate Frog left over from his Christmas present from Hermione, and gave it to Neville, which made him smile a little bit, but he decided to leave, and gave Harry the collection card that came with the frog (each card had a famous wizard on it). This particular card had Dumbledore, and that was when it hit the Quartet.

Well, it was Harry who found it first. There was a mention of Flamel on the card, and Hermione ran up to her room, retrieving a heavy book (apparently light reading) that had Flamel's name in it.

"I'd hate to see what you call heavy reading." Fern muttered jokingly, but she was just as interested when she found out that Flamel had created the Philosopher's Stone, which had the properties for elixir that brought new life to the drinker – Flamel and his wife were already in the hundreds.

"So that's what Fluffy's guarding." breathed Fern. "Amazing."

"A stone that makes gold and stops you dying." Harry exclaimed. "No wonder Snape's after it! Anyone would want it."

For most of the next day, Harry and Ron discussed what they would do with a Philosopher's Stone. Hermione kept her mind on whatever class they happened to be in, and Fern pretended to be doing both. Finally, she said "Can you two please quit it? Why don't we talk about something else, like...the Quidditch match that Snape is refereeing?"

Harry decided that he was going to play. He refused to show weakness in front of the whole school just because a biased teacher was the referee.

"Look on the bright side," Fern had said reassuringly, "You're not playing Slytherin, so Snape'll have no reason to root for one house or the other. Yeah, he might hate Gryffindor, but I don't think he'd ignore it if a Hufflepuff cheats, which he would for Slytherin's team."

Little did Fern know, that her interest would lie in what happened on the bleachers.

**Don't know if you saw it, but I have a soft spot for Neville. He was an amazing character in the later books, and I just can't help loving him here, simply because he was basically the loser kid at the time. Now, please please please review?**


	10. Chapter 10

**Now, let us continue! And why were there no reviews?**

The whole school had turned out to watch the game, knowing how biased the game might be.

"Ow!" Ron exclaimed suddenly, beside Fern.

"Oh, sorry, Weasley, didn't see you there."

Draco Malfoy and his minions were just behind them, and the leader had just poked Ron in the head. He smirked and jumped further down to sit on the other side of Fern. She pretended not to notice.

Draco smirked, glancing back at Crabbe and Goyle before saying "Wonder how long Potter's going to stay on his broom this time? Anyone want a bet?"

"Shut up." Fern muttered. "He caught the Snitch last time and he'll do it again."

"You know how I think they choose people for the Gryffindor team?" Draco continued. "It's people they feel sorry for." He went on about Harry being an orphan and the Weasley twins being less than rich, and then added that Neville should be on the team. "You've got no brains."

Fern saw Neville's blush, and lost her temper. She gave Draco a sharp shove. "Get lost, Malfoy! Go air your opinions to someone who cares, why don't you?"

Neville half-heartedly parroted what Harry had said that day in the common-room.

The blonde was unfazed. He continued to tell Neville "If brains were gold, you'd be poorer than Weasley, and that's saying something."

"I told you to get lost!" Fern hissed.

A smirk appeared on Draco's face, even more devilish than the last. "OK then, Jordan. I'll leave your little friends alone, on one condition."

Fern didn't answer vocally, just nodded at him to go on.

"That this one time, you get lost with me."

Fern didn't know whether she even wanted to stay, since the first-year Slytherin spokesboy wanted to speak with her alone. But it was worth it, if he really was going to leave them alone after that.

She quickly told Ron and Hermione "Got something really urgent to do, sorry I can't stay, I have to hear what happened later, OK?" and then let Draco pull her away from the crowd. Soon, the two kids were inside, where it was totally deserted.

Fern folded her arms and waited. She forced herself not to look at Draco's face. She knew that if she looked at the silver orbs, blonde hair, and almost flirtatious smirk, she'd melt. She looked at him, but her eyes focused past him as she said in her coldest voice "Get on with it."

Draco's smirk widened as he said "Oh, Jordan, I'm hurt that you are so cold. You won't even look at me properly."

"Dammit." muttered Fern as she dragged her eyes up to meet his, quickly thinking up her comeback. "I'm hurt that you're a total bully. Doesn't it strike you that your offer to Harry at the start of the year to help him make friends with the 'right' wizards is why he turned you down? Oh yeah, that and the fact that you hadn't done anything to make yourself look any better than Ron. I'm pretty surprised you haven't been mocking me and Hermione."

"You might want to fix your grammar." Draco said. "But don't you get it? Why I haven't said anything to you? And to tell the truth, I barely knew Granger existed."

"You know her last name." Fern shot back, but then she said "To tell the truth, I haven't thought about it. Anyway, you've been staring at me and smirking all the time, don't think I haven't noticed."

"Are you really that clueless?" Draco demanded. "I'd expect something of this from one of your friends, but I thought you might be a little more intelligent."

A thought struck Fern. "Have you, by any chance, seen something I wrote to my friends?" She looked straight at Draco, knowing that if he had, he'd lie.

"No."

Fern kept staring at him, piercingly. Draco stopped, and then shrugged. "I didn't read your letters. You were looking at that letter from your friend last week where she was talking about someone from here you'd mentioned. My house, our year. I was just passing. And I think you might've dropped another letter from your friend." He held up a piece of paper, which Fern recognized as having Jamie's writing on it. She did remember getting the letter the day before, but then losing it. The letter read:

_Hey Fern,_

_What's up? BTW, tell Harry I said good luck on the Quidditch game. He'll need it, with a referee like S (can't I just write his name, it's not like he'll see your letters, right?). Has anything been going on with your cute Slytherin? Is he still flirting with you? Hey, can you get a photo of him? If he likes you that much, you should just let him down or ask him out. Jessie said that, too._

_Although, I was reading what you said about what he did to Neville. Poor kid sounds like the exact type of kid that would get bullied. But you sound like you're looking out for him okay. Think the Golden Quartet will gain a new member?_

_Love_

_Jamie_

_PS: Seriously, am I allowed to openly write something negative about your teachers? Why would they read your letters?_

Draco smirked at Fern. "See? You're not that dense, according to this letter. I know you know what I've been doing."

"Who said I was talking about you?" Fern demanded.

"Do you talk to any other Slytherins?" Fern was at a loss. Draco continued to speak. "So, which is it going to be? Your Muggle friend _Jamie_-" he said her name as if Jamie was some insect that was particularly hated- "said you should let me down or ask me out. And somehow, I know you're going to do the second."

"Why would I ask you out?" Fern snapped, although she looked at the floor as she did.

"Can you stop avoiding looking at my face, please?" said Draco exasperatedly. Fern obediently eyeballed him. "And you would because I have proof that you've been whining on to your friend about a certain member of staff that would just _love _to give you detention."

Fern knew that he was threatening to show Snape the letter, because they both knew that the way Jamie talked about "S" would show that Fern had been saying stuff about him.

"Give me the letter." Fern said through gritted teeth.

"I'm not giving it back until you say you'll go out with me."

"How can I do that? We only see each other here."

"I can see you in the holidays, as well as I don't tell my parents that you're a muggleborn Gryffindor."

"Draco Malfoy, I don't even like you."

"Your friend says you do. And anyway," Draco smirked. "If you let me date you, then I'll let you take that picture she wants."

Fern scrunched up her face in contcentration, trying to decide what to do. Finally, her face relaxed and she turned to Draco. "Fine, I'll go out with you." she said. "But I have a few conditions. Number one: No one know about this. Do whatever you have to do to keep this a secret. If Harry, Ron and Hermione heard about this, they would skin me alive."

"Sure." Draco said, although he looked a bit put out. "Go on."

"Secondly, you can stop calling me Jordan, and start calling me Fern. I have a first name. Use it."

"OK, Jor – I mean, Fern."

"Right. Now Draco, may I have my letter back?"

Draco smirked. "I think I'll keep it, just in case you go back on that. Oh, and you can take the picture now." he added, bringing a camera out of a bag he had with him. "I'll have it developed and I'll give it to you tomorrow." he added. Fern quickly snapped a photo with him off guard, giggling at the expression she got. Even if wizard photos moved, she had the expression there.

But she took another photo of Draco looking straight at the camera, with a pleasant smile, one Fern hadn't seen him wear before. Then, they walked back to the Quidditch game, only to find that it was over, and Harry had won.

**Woohoo! I can't believe I wrote this! But my plan is underway!**

**Reviews are love! Please give me a review! I spend all the time writing this, and I'd like to see if people do read and/or appreciate it. Even if you don't like it, just say "I reviewed". PLEASE?**


	11. Chapter 11

**Let's continue. Thanks for reviewing, Lauren Kassidy, and sorry about the chapter error.**

"Fern, where were you?" Hermione cried, running over to her friend. "We won! Gryffindor's in the lead!"

The evening was a blur of happiness, although Fern was still brooding about the blackmail that had her dating an arrogant (but very cute) Slytherin.

Even worse, Harry told the rest of the Quartet that evening, that he'd heard Snape and Quirrell talking, and that he thought Snape was trying to get Quirrell to tell him how to get past Fluffy.

"You mean that the Stone's only safe as long as Quirrell stands up to Snape?" Hermione asked.

"It'll be gone by next Tuesday." muttered Ron.

Fern, however, didn't seem sure. "I don't know..." she muttered. "Something about this just doesn't add up. Well, it does, but I have a feeling that we're missing something."

However, the Quartet had more on their minds than the Stone. End-of-year exams loomed in ten weeks. Ron, Harry and Fern continued to check (from a distance) that Fluffy was still guarding the Stone, but Hermione was caught up in a frenzy of studying. She kept telling the others to do exactly what she was doing, and as the teachers started giving them more and more homework, they didn't have much of a choice.

Once, when they were studying, Hagrid came in, apparently trying to find something on dragons. The same day, they went to his hut to ask him more about the Philosopher's Stone. That was when they found out why he'd been looking up dragons – he had a huge black dragon egg.

"What I'd got there is a Norwegian Ridgeback." he said proudly.

Fern didn't recognize the name, but she knew how rare it was by his tone, and said "That's amazing. Cool!"

The Quartet continued to study for the next week, but then Harry got a note, carried by his owl, to say that the egg was hatching. Fern and Ron voted to skip Herbology to see it happening, but Hermione wouldn't let them.

They continued to argue, until Harry told them to shut up. Fern followed his gaze, to realize that the reason was because Draco was nearby, and was eavesdropping. He gave Fern his most flirtatious smirk when he saw her looking.

After the dragon hatched (Hagrid called him Norbert), the whole group spent most of the time with Hagrid and the dragon. Fern spent slightly less, since Draco cornered her once or twice, trying to get information out of her.

"I followed you four, I saw the dragon hatching before." he warned. "You want me to tell?"  
"Tell what?" Fern muttered, not looking at him. "About the dragon, or about what I've been telling Jamie in my letters about Snape?"

"Dragon, duh." Draco said. "Continue."

Fern insisted she didn't know anything, which was hard when Norbert bit Ron, causing him major discomfort. In the end, the group decided, Hagrid included, that they'd have to send the dragon somewhere else.

Harry had an idea. He remembered Ron's brother Charlie in Romania, who was studying dragons. They could ask him to take care of Norbert until he was an adult.

The problem was, the Quartet would have to get Norbert up the tallest tower at midnight for him to be picked up. But they were determined to do it.

"We've got my Invisibility Cloak." Harry pointed out. "I think it's big enough to cover three of us and Norbert."

The dragon bite had to be treated in the school infirmary, and Draco took the chance to taunt Ron there and threaten to tell what actually happened.

Fern cornered him after class the next time. "You promised you'd leave my friends alone!" she hissed. "Remember?"

"Relax, Fern." Draco said. "I wasn't actually going to bust you..yet. But with that dragon bite, Weasley's really pushing the limits."

Ron didn't recover in time to join the other three on sending Norbert off, but that turned out to be a blessing in disguise – for him, at least. On the way to the tower of the night, Harry, Hermione and Fern actually passed Draco, having tried to tell on them to Professor McGonagall. However, she wasn't buying it, the Quartet was happy to see, and he only got detention and points off Slytherin.

Sadly, on the way back, the three kids were caught and sent to Professor McGonagall's office. When she put in an appearance, she had Neville in tow. She didn't know what they had really been up to, but she assumed that they'd told Draco some lie about the dragon to get him in trouble by getting him out of bed at night, and Neville had heard it. That's why he was out. The four kids lost Gryffindor 200 points in total, and got detentions.

All of the kids were pretty much sent to Coventry by everyone except the Slytherins, because everyone, even the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws just didn't want to see Slytherin winning the House Cup for the eighth year running. Ron was the only one who still talked to them. He pointed out that his brothers, the twins in third year, had lost hundreds of points and just like with them, people would forget about it.

"It's no picnic right now, though. I thought being sent to Coventry only existed in Enid Blyton boarding schools." Fern sighed, half-complaining, half-joking.

Draco waylaid Fern after classes more and more. "Heard you got detention." he said with a smirk. "So do I. It'll be like a real first date, won't it?"

"In case you don't know," Fern said through her teeth, "Harry, Hermione and Neville all have detention too, and you promised your little blackmail condition wouldn't get back to them."

"Oh, so you haven't told them yet?" Draco said. "I would've thought you told them everything by now. You're not very good at keeping secrets."

Fern just turned and stalked off. She got a long-awaited reply from Jamie the same day, which depressed her more. The last letter she'd sent was the one with the picture of Draco, and Jamie had noticed.

_Hey Fern_

_Wow, your Slytherin boy is cute! I can see why you like him. You have got to get him to meet us. He's not a Muggle-hater, is he? From what you tell me, there are a lot of purebloods who are haters. I assume you did ask him out, since he let you take a picture of him. _(Fern resolved to tell Jamie about the blackmail and what Draco was really like).

_It sounds like Harry is doing great as a Seeker, since he's beaten Slytherin and Hufflepuff now. Update me on points!_

_Oh, and guess what? One of the Year 9 students has been hitting on Andrea. And she's actually flirting back! You should see her, she's acting so weird to usual._

_Write back!  
Jamie_

Fern sighed, but wrote back straight away.

_Hey Jamie_

_Slytherin boy read your letter when you passed on the advice to ask him out or let him down. I dropped it, and he used it to blackmail me into dating him. He said that if I didn't, he'd point out what you said about S cause he was sure S would know it was him you were talking about. Then I would get in trouble. He'd use any excuse to get me in trouble – I am, after all, one of Harry's friends. Even Hermione gets treated worse in Potions than in any other class._

_So I might as well tell you all about him now he knows. His name's Draco Malfoy, and he's a pureblood snob, so yes, he hates muggles and muggleborns. I don't know why he's bothering with me, but he is. The day he blackmailed me, he also insulted Ron's family's wealth, and basically called Neville brainless. It's not fair that Neville gets picked on all the time, he's a nice guy._

_Me, Neville, Harry and Hermione got fifty points taken off each for being caught out of bed after hours. It sucks, I know. No one in Gryffindor except Ron will talk to us. Most of the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws are shunning us too, because they all wanted to see Slytherin lose the House Cup for once, and now they're in the lead. We've got detention tomorrow night, according to a message we all got from McGonagall._

_Andrea is flirting? It's the apocalypse! (Though Draco wanting a muggleborn girlfriend should have told me that). Tell me more!_

_Love_

_Fern_

**Fern's a bit more down than usual, I know, but she's having a hard time. Please review!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Here's detention. Let's continue.**

Hagrid took the five kids for detention. A unicorn had been attacked, and they were meant to go into the Forbidden Forest and find it to cut short its otherwise long and painful death. The groups were meant to split up – some kids with Hagrid, and some with Fang, his boarhound. Neville and Draco ended up with Fang, and one glance from Draco made Fern part of that group too. She flashed an apologetic look at Harry and Hermione and went with the group. They could send red sparks up with their wands if they were in danger.

"OK." she said before they even started. "Draco Malfoy, keep your thoughts to yourself. Neville, don't let anything he says hurt you. And for the love of Oz, keep your wands to yourselves!"

They only got a little way into the forest before Neville suddenly screamed out and shot red sparks into the sky. Fern looked around and pulled the blonde boy off him. "Draco, scaring him the way you did wasn't funny at all. I thought you were going to leave my friends alone!"

"Your friends are Potter, Weasley and Granger." Draco said, straight to the point. "You only told me to keep my thoughts to myself. It doesn't mean I can't do something like that. He's so scared, he was asking for it!"

Fern slapped him across the face on impulse. "I'll bet that you'll end up having to swap groups."

When the other group got there, it was Neville who swapped groups. Harry joined Fern and Draco instead. They did find the unicorn...with a hooded figure drinking its blood. However, Draco got scared. He grabbed Fern and fled, screaming, with Fang on their heels.

Once Draco was over his fear, a smirk was back on his face. "Saved your life." he whispered to Fern. "Now you owe me."

"Owe you what?" Fern replied, scowling.

"This." Draco didn't give Fern time to resist, when he kissed her. If she'd known he was going to do that, she would have run away, but as it was, she didn't. She let him kiss her. To tell the truth, it was really only a touching of the lips that took longer than usual. But Fern kind of liked it.

After detention ended, the three members of the Quartet walked back together. Fern was quietly singing to herself.

"_I kissed a pureblood, and I liked it_

_The taste of his cold snob pursed lips_

_I kissed a pureblood, just to try it_

_I hope my best friends don't mind it_

_It felt so wrong, and not so right_

_I will still hate him tonight..."_

However, Draco and the incident in the woods was sent to the back of her mind when they got back to the common room and Harry told the rest of the Quartet about how the hooded figure was Voldemort, and the reason Snape supposedly wanted the Stone was to bring Voldemort back to life. And if Voldemort came back, he'd make sure to finish off the boy he'd once failed to kill.

"Now it makes sense!" Fern whispered.

Hermione reminded the group about the one thing that kept Voldemort from getting near Harry. "Everyone says Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was afraid of. With Dumbledore around, You-Know-Who won't touch you."

Exams started soon after that conversation. Everyone, from the Gryffindors to the Slytherins were stressed. However, Harry had the worst time, as he told his friends, because his scar was burning more intensely than usual.

Even after the exams, Harry continued to stress about the pain in his scar. "It's happened before, but never so often as this. I think it's a warning."

Ron, Hermione and Fern didn't really feel so worried about it. But Harry continued to be worry, and eventually, he seemed to have had a revalation. One that made him jump up and start running.

Fern jumped up too, yelling "Harry, where are you going? It's too hot to run!"

"I've just thought of something." Harry answered. "We've got to go and see Hagrid now."

"Why?" Hermione asked. Harry reminded her about the dragon, and how it was illegal, yet some stranger had been the one to give it to Hagrid.

Harry asked Hagrid a whole bunch of questions about the stranger, and if he seemed interested in Fluffy. Apparently, the stranger had left his hood up the whole time, but Hagrid had told him how to get past Fluffy – to play some music.

The group rushed off after that, sure that either Snape or Voldemort was the stranger, and went to tell Dumbledore. But McGonagall was passing by, and she told them that he'd left ten minutes before on a matter from the Ministry of Magic. Harry did make the suggestion that someone was trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone, but she said it was too well-protected. The Quartet knew better.

"It's tonight." Harry said to his friends. "Snape's going through the trapdoor tonight. He's found out everything he needs and now he's got Dumbledore out of the way. He sent that note. I bet the Ministry of Magic will get a real shock when Dumbledore turns up."

"But how can we-"

Fern and Hermione's gasps alerted the boys to Snape's presence behind him. "Good afternoon." he paused. "You shouldn't be inside on a day like this."

Fern shyly spoke. "The sunlight was a bit too bright for us. The heat gets overwhelming, too, after a while." She half-regretted speaking. She'd never said a word in Potions class.

"Even so," Snape said. "You want to be more careful. Hanging around like this, people will think you're up to something. And Gryffindor really can't afford to lose any more points, can they?"

The group began to head out, but Snape called them back to add that if he caught Harry out of bed after hours again, then he would make sure he was expelled.

The minute he was out of view, Fern began to vent. "Sweet Lurline, I hate that teacher! Apart from the Stone thing, I wish he'd leave this school and never come back! We'd all have a better life. You can tell, he'd just love to have an excuse to take away points from Gryffindor. And to get you out of school, Harry."

The group made plans to protect the Stone during the day, but the staff weren't ones not to notice that the Quartet was up to something.

Eventually, Harry made a last-minute plan. "I'm going out of here tonight and I'm going to try and get to the Stone first!"

The others stared at him.

"You're insane." Fern said. "Even I wouldn't do that."

Ron nodded. "That's mad."

"You'll be expelled!" Hermione warned.

"SO WHAT?" Harry yelled, and then he began a long rant on what it might be like if Voldemort came back, finishing with "Voldemort killed my parents, remember?"  
"You're right, Harry." Hermione said quietly.

"I'll use the Invisibility Cloak." Harry said. "It's just lucky I got it back-"

"But will it cover all four of us?" Ron asked.

"All – all four of us?"

Fern laughed a bit. "Harry Potter, do you seriously think we'd let you do something like this without us coming along? We're backing you up all the way. I don't care if I'm expelled if it's for the greater good."

"I better go and look through my books, to see if there's anything useful." Hermione added. "Anyway, we won't be expelled if I can help it. Flitwick told me in secret that I got 112% on his exam. They're not throwing me out after that."

**Climax coming, yay! Please review!**

**Why didn't anyone review the last chapter? I want people to read this, please! Anyone who reviews gets a virtual character of their choice!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Well, here we go! Thank you for your review, Ahsilaa. Reviews are what make me update faster! Otherwise, I don't know if anyone's reading this.**

The group sat apart in the common room that night. Hermione was skimming through the books, while the rest of the group was silently planning out what they'd do. They waited for the common room to empty before getting ready to go.

Harry ran and got the Cloak, and just as they started to cover themselves with it-

"What are you doing?"  
Neville appeared from the corner of the room.

"Nothing." Fern said quickly.

But Neville wasn't stupid. "You're going out again."

"No, we're not." Hermione insisted.

"We were just about to go to bed." Fern said. "Why are you up so late, anyway, Neville?" But her protests were a lost cause, because he wasn't budging.

"You can't go out!" Neville told them. "You'll be caught again. Gryffindor will be in even more trouble."

Harry dropped the pretense. "You don't understand, this is important."

"I won't let you do it." Neville moved to block the frame out. "I'll – I'll fight you!"

It took a bit of time before Hermione at last used the Body-Bind on Neville, apologizing beforehand.

Fern stayed for a moment afterwards, and whispered "Neville, we're sorry about doing this, but it's so important. I promise we won't get caught."

The door to the third floor was already ajar. All Harry had to do was get out his flute and play. Fluffy was no threat after that. Then there was a jump to a bed of plants.

Suddenly, Fern screamed. The plant was trying to bind them up, probably ready to kill them. Hermione freed herself and then realized how to kill it. "It likes the dark and the damp..."

"So light a fire!" Harry managed to choke out."

"But there's no wood..."

"Wand!" Fern managed to say past the tendrils cutting off her air supply.

Hermione cast the spell, and soon the other three were free. Next up was a bunch of winged keys. One of them was the key to the next door. There were broomsticks nearby, so the whole group got one each and went for it.

Harry was the one to see it, and he instructed the rest of the group to close in...but Fern had grasped the key before he got there.

"Wow, you're fast!" her friends exclaimed.

Fern shrugged. "It was just luck. Maybe I'll try out for the Chaser position in Quidditch in a year."

Next was a chess game, in which they were black, and they were playing against white. This time, it was Ron who had to use his skills, being the best at chess.

"Harry, you take the place of that bishop. Hermione, Fern, you go to each end instead of the castles."

"And you are?" Fern asked.

"I'm going to be a knight."

The chess pieces they were taking the place of moved off the board, obviously listening. The black pieces did whatever Ron told them to do, and it seemed like they were winning by the end. But then, Ron looked and realized that there was a lose-lose situation coming up. There was only one way to get the others out of danger.

"I've got to be taken." he murmured.

"NO!" screamed all three of his friends.

"That's chess!" Ron insisted. "You've got to make some sacrifices. That leaves you free to checkmate the king, Harry!"

"But-"

"Do you want to stop Snape or not? If you don't hurry up, he'll already have the stone."

The group had to leave Ron behind to win the game, and so they left, ending up in front of a table with seven bottled potions. There was a riddle, which Hermione worked out.

There was only one person who could get through to the Stone. Harry gave the girls instructions about getting themselves and Ron out, and sending a note to Dumbledore for back up.

"But Harry," said Fern, her usually carefree face stony with concern, "What if You-Know-Who is there? We can't lose you!"

"I was lucky once, wasn't I?" Harry pointed at his scar. "I might get lucky again."

Fern and Hermione hugged him at the same time.

"You're a great wizard, you know." Hermione whispered.

"I'm not as good as you-"

"Me? Books and cleverness." Hermione scoffed. "There are more important things-"

"Like friendship and courage." Fern said softly. "Be careful."

And then, Hermione and Fern drank the potion to get them back, and turned back, hoping their friend would be OK. As they followed Harry's instructions, they whispered to each other about what would happen.

When they finally got to go to bed, none of the Quartet slept. When Fern finally did fall asleep from exhaustion, she dreamed of every possible outcome of what would happen.

"Be safe, Harry." she mumbled in her sleep.

**Sorry it was so short! One more chapter, and then first year will be over for the group. Please, please, please review!**


	14. Chapter 14

**OK, the last chapter in this story, at least. Hope you like it! Oh, and I do NOT own the rules that Andrea in this, has written. It belongs to the original writer of "Things I Am Not Allowed To Do At Hogwarts". Also, I know there was no mention in the books, but the students get reports here.**

**Thank you for reviewing, grapejuice101 and soccerisawesome19 (I've already been called out on that, but I can change a few of the rules, like computers and such).**

Soon, the whole school knew what had happened. Snape hadn't been trying to steal the Stone, it had been Professor Quirrell the whole time. He acted as a host for Voldemort while he himself was waiting for the strength to stand alone. The Stone would have given him the eternal life and the strength he desired.

The loss of points had been forgotten, and Harry returned to being one of the most admired people in the whole school. He was in the infirmary for the next few days, unconscious. Nearly everyone sent him sweets or something.

Hermione, Ron and Fern were desperate to see Harry when he finally woke up and he was the same way, although the matron, Madam Pomfrey, was against it. They only got five minutes as it was, but Harry told them the whole exact story, as there were rumours everywhere. It turned out that the Stone was going to be destroyed, anyway.

The end-of-year feast was the biggest turnaround of points for Gryffindor ever, as Fern would tell her parents. After losing all of the points for being out at night, and also having lost the latest Quidditch match against Ravenclaw with no Seeker, Gryffindor was last in points, with Slytherin winning. However, points were awarded to each member of the Quartet. Fern, for her agility, Ron, for his chess skill, Hermione, for her calmness and logic, and finally, Harry, for the courage of a true Gryffindor.

Harry was allowed to go to the feast, even though he hadn't fully recovered.

Fern added the three fifties and the sixty points they got together with Gryffindor's overall score. _We're tied. Tied with Slytherin! _She thought excitedly. She saw Draco glancing over at her, and stuck her tongue out. _At the moment, I don't care who blackmailed who! Gryffindor rules, Slytherins...well, we're tied. Oh, I wish there was five of us!_

But the last points weren't done. Before the Quartet had gotten to the third floor, Neville had done everything he could to stop them going out. It took a lot for him to do that, especially since he was standing up to friends. But even though he'd failed to stop them, he'd had good intentions, and it was courageous. So Neville got ten points, and Gryffindor had won the House Cup.

Fern squealed with joy and hugged the person closest to her, which happened to be Hermione.

Exam marks came a bit later, but that was OK. Fern, Ron and Harry had gotten through with fairly good marks, and Hermione, of course, was top. Everyone else seemed to have gotten through.

After that, everything went by in a blur. Everyone packed their bags, got their pets, and were soon on the train home, with notes reminding them that they weren't allowed to use magic out of school and their school reports.

On the train, Fern brought out a camera ("Now I know how to develop it into a moving picture") and got a photo snapped of each of her friends. It was a bit sad to know that after the train ride, they wouldn't see each other for the next few months – not until September.

"You should come and stay this summer." Ron said to the other three as they stepped off the train. "All of you – I'll send you an owl."

"I'll need something to look forward to." Harry said gratefully. Fern remembered about his aunt, uncle and cousin, and hung back when she saw her parents. People were yelling goodbyes to Harry. Even Ron's little sister was excited when she caught a glimpse of him.

Fern was still hanging back when Harry's Uncle Vernon appeared and said "Ready, are you?" Behind him was Harry's Aunt Petunia, and his cousin, Dudley, as far as Fern remembered.

She smiled brightly at them and said in a cheerful voice "Hi, my name's Fern, and as you may have guessed, I'm one of Harry's friends from school. You must be his family."

"In a manner of speaking." Vernon said. "Hurry up, boy, we haven't got all day." He walked off.

"Hope you...uh...have a good holiday." Hermione said, glancing at Vernon.

Harry just smiled. "Oh, I will. They don't know we're not allowed to use magic at home. I'm going to have a lot of fun with Dudley this summer."

"Fern! Didn't you hear us?" Fern's parents came up at this moment. They smiled at Hermione, since they'd met her. "Hi, Hermione."

"Oh, wait." Fern said, and introduced her two other best friends. She'd already exchanged phone numbers with Harry and Hermione, so she'd be able to owl them and phone (Ron's family didn't have a telephone, since he was brought up in a wizard family).

Then finally, she went back to her home. When they opened her report, Fern was nearly bouncing up and down with excitement. She knew her marks, of course, but she couldn't wait to read her comments. It seemed like most of the teachers liked her, although a couple of them said that she needed to pay more attention, and at least half of them said that she talked too much in class. Her best comment was on Charms, because she was interested and enjoyed it, so she was nearly always on-task.

Fern's home friends were desperate to hear what happened, practically waiting on her doorstep. They couldn't wait to hear everything, so Fern talked to them that same afternoon. She had to tell the whole story about the Stone. "I couldn't believe it when I found out it was Quirrell the whole time." she said.

"Tell us more about Draco." Rachel said. "Now that we know his name. So do you know why he asked you out?"

Fern shook her head. "No idea. I think it's just to torture me. Did you all see his picture?"

The girls nodded. "I'd say you were lucky in any other case!" Nancy exclaimed. "So has he actually done anything?"

Fern blushed. "He kissed me once." she muttered. "And...I guess I kind of liked it. Can we talk about something else?"

Jessie smirked. "Can you do some magic for us?"

"Nuh-uh. They might kick me out." Fern answered. "Anyway, I want to hear what school's like. What are the teachers like? I swear, I will run up and down the street yelling 'don't worry, be happy' if anyone there is worse than Snape."

"Damnit." Jamie said straightaway, making everyone else giggle. "Nah, most of the teachers are pretty nice. But it's not that interesting. Are you seeing the others before school starts?"

"Well, Ron says we should all come stay at his place." Fern said. "I think that'll be good for Harry. I saw his family on the platform, and you can just tell that they don't even _LIKE _him. By the way, I took a photo of all of them." She showed them the pictures on the computer, which didn't move there, but would when she developed them the right way. The other girls exclaimed over Harry and Ron and how cute/hot they looked a bit surprised at Hermione's picture, apparently not expecting a fluffy-haired brunette to be the girl they briefly talked to on the phone once.

Andrea said that she'd compiled a list of "Unwritten Rules Of Hogwarts".

"From all the letters you sent," she grinned, "The idea just popped into my head. Number 26 is my favourite."

Fern read it, giggling. "_I am not allowed to declare an official 'Hug A Slytherin Day'. _I better remember to tell my other friends that one! Also, only Harry and Hermione will understand 2, but I have to tell them. I mean, _I'm not allowed to sing 'We're Off To See The Wizard' while skipping to the headmaster's office? _If I do get sent to Dumbledore's office next term for whatever reason, I am so doing that."

That night, Fern sighed as she went to bed in her own room. "Summer will be nice," she yawned, "But I can't wait to get back to Hogwarts in September." And she fell asleep, having a dream about both her groups of friends meeting up.

**Aw, what a cliché ending! So this is my first story, but it's far from over! Look out for the next story, "Hyper At Hogwarts – Year 2". Please, review!**


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